


Road to Reclamation

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: Broadchurch, DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, F/M, Gen, Introspection, Rip Week 2019, crossover fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-25
Updated: 2019-06-25
Packaged: 2020-05-19 19:46:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19363138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Gideon guides Rip back to being himself as he explores different personas including: Rory Williams, Paul Coates, and the return of Phil Gasmer.





	Road to Reclamation

Gideon wandered around the ship, hand trailing the console. The craftsmanship was nice she supposed, the wires and quiet humming of life just underneath her fingertips. It was all knitted together as one living being. She knew the feeling. Something this grand could only have been done by a Time Master.

“Who are you and how did you get on my ship?”

She turned and saw a man in a bowtie, floppy hair, a substantial chin, brandishing a plunger at her. Gideon pushed it down with her finger.

“Sorry. Not here for you. Here for a passenger. Are you the Captain of this ship?” she asked walking around him.

“Well, I mean, I’ve rather always fancied myself a Captain.” He grinned easily and tried to lean against the console, missing and trying to get back on his feet. Gideon giggled to herself as the ship flashed her lights, clearly disagreeing. The man huffed. “Thanks dear! I’m the Doctor. Now who are you and how did you get on my Tardis? Not that I’m not impressed, but I thought I disabled all transmat activity.”

“Those only work on humans and the like. I am certainly not grouped with them. No, I’m closer to…Sexy.” She touched her hand to her lips and then to the console.

“Sexy? My ship? She’s – wait, how did you know her name?”

“She told me.”

“She told you?” His eyes bugged out. “You can talk to her?”

“Not in so many words, but if you listen closely, you can understand. Don’t you think?”

The Doctor leaned against the console, ear pressed up against the buttons. Gideon smirked, biting her lip and leaned in next to him and shouted in his ear, “Boo!”

He jostled and stood alert, hands ready to karate chop her. “Hey!”

Gideon giggled. “Sorry, far too easy.” Around her the lights twinkled with delight. “I know,” she said conspiringly.

“Oi! Now dear, don’t go talking behind my back.” The Doctor wagged his finger at the ceiling.

“Now, the passengers of this ship?” Gideon asked.

The Doctor waved his hand. “Oh, probably in the bunkbeds again.”

Gideon followed the trail of lights down the hall.

“Oh no, wait! They said something about privacy! Not sure why!” He followed after her only to get there in time just as Gideon opened the door and the Ponds screamed, falling out of the bed. “This is your fault,” he hissed at the ship. “Now Amy’s going to yell.”

“Doctor!”

“And there it is.” The Doctor clapped his hands. “Now Amy, Rory, I’m sure you’re looking for an explanation. Now, the thing is, this is – sorry, who are you again?”

“Gideon.” She stepped forward to Rory and touched his face, circling around him. Amy glowered at the woman. “My, you look so young, my Captain.”

“Oi! Get your hands off my husband. He’s taken,” the fiery redhead said.

Gideon eyed her. “Yes. But not by you.”

“Excuse you?” Amy stepped forward and Rory took a cowering step back.

“Now, ladies-”

“Don’t defend her, Rory! You don’t even know her. Do you?” Amy demanded.

Rory raised his hands and shook his head. “Nope, no, never!”

“Right. Put some clothes on, I’ll meet you in the galley, shall I?” Gideon turned and took the Doctor’s hand and dragged him out of the room.

“This is my Tardis and I will not be told what to do!” the Doctor complained. The lights flashed twice.

“Thank you, Sexy.” Gideon faced him. “She says I can. Don’t worry, I’ll get you some fish fingers and custard, apparently you like those.” She wrinkled her nose and yelled at the closed door, “Ten minutes or I’m coming back in, Captain!”

Approximately fifteen minutes later, they were all sat at the table in the galley along with a newly arrived woman with frizzy, curly space hair.

“So, you’re their daughter?” Gideon repeated.

“Yes. Who are you?” River asked in turn.

“I’m his.”

Gideon pointed to Rory, whose eyes widened and leaned back. River turned to look at him and then back at Gideon.

“You’re pointing at my father.”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s preposterous. He hasn’t been in love with anyone but my mother his whole life. I was there. The whole lovey dovey eyes thing was sickening for a child my age. No one should have to see their parents like that.”

“Captain, as lovely as this dream is, I need you to wake up now,” Gideon said curtly. “I can’t heal you properly unless you pull your consciousness out of this delusion.”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. And stop calling me your Captain. I don’t even know who you are.”

“I told you, my name is Gideon. And you are Captain Rip Hunter of the Waverider. Former Time Master and fulltime savior of the timeline.”

Rory shook his head. “No, no, that’s the Doctor’s job. I’m just a nurse.”

Gideon gave the man in the bowtie and look over. “You could have done something about his fashion sense, but given the robes you were in private, I can’t blame you.”

Rory floundered like a goldfish and Amy put a hand over his. “Hey. This is real. Not some delusion. I don’t know who you are or how you got on board, but Rory is my husband. I’m not giving him up without a fight.”

Gideon’s lips parted. “Oh, I see now. She’s your Miranda, isn’t she?”

Rory frowned, the name sparking a pain in his heart. “Miranda?” he whispered.

“Your wife. Your real wife,” Gideon said softly, ignoring the glare Amy sent her way. “You tried to change time for her, to save her.”

“He did change time for me. He saved me when the rest of the universe was dying out,” Amy said clearly.

Gideon smiled at her kindly. “You’re here living out all your regrets, aren’t you? Saving your wife, having a child that grew up, one that you didn’t lose so young. A normal life as opposed to all the pressure on you at once. This time you have a Time Lord to protect the timeline, no need for you to be the Time Master. But it’s not real and I need you to come back.”

“I – I don’t understand.” Rory pressed the heels of his palms to his forehead, suddenly having a panging headache.

“Rory?” Amy said with concern as River dropped to her knees next to her father. “I don’t know what you’re doing to him but stop it. He’s in pain.”

“I’m simply reminding him of his reality.”

“No. This is his reality. This right here. I’m real, Rory. All of this is real,” Amy said in a hushed voice.

“Maybe, but it’s not his reality,” Gideon said softly. “Otherwise I could never be here. We are linked Captain. Where you go, I follow. Always.”

The Doctor stood up and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, whisking it over Rory’s prone figure, as it lit up. “River, Amy, I need you to step away from him. I’m afraid our guest is right. A shared consciousness. How?”

“Perhaps in another lifetime Rip Hunter would have been Rory Williams. But not in this one.” Gideon sat down next to him as he whimpered in pain. “It’s okay,” she whispered, brushing her hand against his cheek. “I’m here, I’m always here, Captain. Trust me and I will guide you back home. Just trust me.”

* * *

 

“Dearest Father, blessed be. Something, something, holier than thou.”

Paul Coates stared at the nun in front of him, spouting some nonsense with her head down. “Have you ever actually been in a church before?”

Gideon looked up and grinned at him. “Never. Not really a believer and neither are you. Which begs the question of why you’re a priest.”

“I am a vicar,” he said clearly. “And if you are going to make fun of my faith then I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Bless me, Father, for I have sinned! Surely I must repent, be punished?”

“Please don’t call me that. And you shouldn’t say things like that when you are dressed as a nun. It’s not a costume, you know.”

Gideon snorted and walked around him, examining him this time around. Only the barest scruff of a beard. “And I thought you had the last time around, naming yourself after Mr. Rory, now you’ve given yourself to a false god.”

“Is there something I can actually help you with?” Paul demanded. “There are actual people that need counseling given the great tragedy this town has suffered.”

“And what tragedy is that?”

Paul blinked. “The boy, Danny Latimer, he was murdered on the beach. There’s a heavy investigation going on, they’re questioning everyone.”

“Oh,” Gideon said softly. She took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Even you?”

He looked at her hand and tried to shrug it off. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that.”

“Look just, consider me your spiritual guide.” She gestured to her nun outfit. “Doesn’t the priest also need someone to hold his hand?”

“Vicar,” he corrected. Shaking his head for a moment, he said, “They questioned me. Given my past offenses.”

“Offenses?”

“Recovering alcoholic. I haven’t had a drink in ages though!”

“I believe you,” she said softly, stepping closer again. So close she could have kissed him as she once did in his mind prison before. “You’re punishing yourself, aren’t you? For all the death and destruction around you. It’s not your fault, Captain. It’s not.”

“I – I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He didn’t know why but he found himself leaning into this strange woman’s comforting touch, wanting to spill all his secrets and heavy burdens to her.

“It’s not your fault,” Gideon repeated, wrapping her arms around him. “Not Jonas’ death, not Miranda’s, not Martin’s. None of them are on you. I know you think it’s your job to counsel to save everyone, but it’s not. It’s okay to just be you, Rip.”

“I don’t understand,” he whispered, wanting to be held in her arms forever.

“It’s not your fault. And I forgive you. If you’re looking for penance and forgiveness, I’ll give it to you. You are forgiven, Captain. For everything.”

* * *

 

“Where the hell am I?”

Gideon examined her nails uninterestedly, feet up on the console. The American accent was still grating as ever but at least she knew this version of him. Phil Gasmer. Her amnesiac, American Captain.

“You’re on the Waverider,” she said boredly. Hadn’t they been through this once before?

“How-how did I get here? Who are you? I just want to go home!”

His words sobered Gideon’s amusement. She thought she was starting to understand why he chose this persona as his next defense. Slowly, she stood up and walked towards him, cupping his cheeks.

“I am Gideon, your best friend.”

Phil snorted. “My best friend is George, lady.”

“I don’t care for that tone, young man. Now, whether you like it or not, I am your best friend. And this is a timeship, your timeship.”

His eyes widened and he stepped back, shaking his head. “No, nope! Time travel is not real. It’s in my movie – I want out.”

“I’m afraid you can’t,” she said softly. “This is the life you chose.”

Phil shook his head. “No, I’m – I’m not a time captain. I’m not like – like that Rip Hunter guy in my movie. I’m me. I’m just Phil.”

Gideon shook her head. “You’re not. You’re so much more than that. You are brave, resourceful, a wonderful shot, and my best friend.”

“What’s wrong with just being Phil?” he said mournfully. “Why can’t I be normal? I don’t want to save the timeline, I just want to be me.”

“Oh, my Captain,” she whispered, grasping his hands. “If I could, I would give that to you. I would give you anything. I know how much you wish you could have had a normal life, settled down with your wife and son. But I’m afraid that life was never meant for you?”

“Why not?” he asked roughly, in a low British accent. Her Captain.

“Because life is cruel and your work is not done yet. I’m sorry, but the timeline needs you. I need you.”

* * *

 

“Gideon.” Rip cupped her cheek and held her close on the sofa. She found herself leaning into his touch. “Finally, I remember.”

“You do?” she said hopefully.

He nodded. “Thank you, for everything. I can always count on you to save me, my best friend.” He moved his face to kiss her palm. “I missed you, truly.”

“I missed you too, Rip.” She lunged forward and took advantage of their situation, hugging him desperately. “I was so scared I would never see you again.”

“Just this once, accept that you were wrong,” he teased.

“I am always a gracious loser.”

“I’m sure.”

“I’m in a good mood, Captain, try not to ruin it.”

“I’ll do my best.” He stood up and reached out for her hand. “Now what shall we do first? A toast to my return? Perhaps a dance after?”

She watched as he turned to his desk and started pouring his whiskey into two glasses. “That’s all well and good, Captain and while I have missed you dearly, you know you do have to wake up eventually. I can’t keep your body in comatose forever.”

Rip frowned and put the glasses down. “What are you talking about? I’m awake now, Gideon. I remember who I am. You and me, on the Waverider. Everything is as it should be.”

“Oh Rip.” She stepped towards him and crowded him against the desk. “Do you really remember?”

“Of course. You, me, my wife and son, they died. And I recruited the Legends…” Realization dawned in his eyes. “The Legends, where are they? And…you’re human.”

Gideon nodded, glad he was able to come to it himself. “You’re still asleep, I’m afraid. And I think it’s time for you to wake up now.”

Rip was silent for a long moment and then shook his head, downing his drink and pouring another. “No.”

“No? What do you mean no? Rip, you have to wake up.”

“No. All it will be is more pain. Pain and sorrow.”

“You know that’s not true.”

“I do know. What has it ever brought me but sadness? I can’t do it again, Gideon. I can’t.”

“Yes, you can,” insisted Gideon. She pulled him into her arms and held him gently. “You are brave and strong, Rip. You can do it.”

“What about you?” he whispered. “You won’t be there.”

“Oh, Rip. Don’t you know already? I am always here. Perhaps not in this form, but I will always be there for you. I will never leave you.”

“Promise?”

“Always.”

* * *

 

Rip gasped as he woke up, hearing the steady beeping of the machine next to him. Slowly, he began to sit up, his head only hurting slightly. He was alone in the medbay of the Waverider. Briefly, he remembered Mallus, the glowing light of the time drive, then nothing.

Well, no, not nothing. Gideon. There was always Gideon.

“Gideon?” he croaked. “Are you there?”

“I’m here, Rip,” she said softly from the speakers. It soothed his heart just hearing her voice.

“You always are.”


End file.
